Bring Her Home
by tivaforever13
Summary: Bringing Ziva home. Includes a new character. AU.
1. A Girl in the Squad Room

Tony walked into the squad room. He had just gotten out of the emergency room. He noticed that someone was sitting on the desk opposite him. He noted to himself that they were not sitting at the desk, but on top of it. The squad room was filled. Gibbs was staring at the girl sitting there and McGee was working away peacefully on his computer. The new girl, Bishop, was glaring at the girl sitting on top of the desk.

The girl was dressed in camouflage cargo pants and a white tank top. Her skin had an olive tone to it that was only too familiar. She had a cascade of dark curls falling down her back. They were neatly combed and contained in a beautiful way. Her light chocolate eyes were staring at the empty desk across from hers. Tony stopped in his tracks, taking a closer look at the girl.

She was young. She was probably only twenty or twenty-one, based on the way she looked. She was beautiful too. Her arms were toned and she was slender, with a great figure. She had a hard stare about her that was too familiar to Tony. He looked even closer.

She was sitting with her feet dangling in the air. She was definitely short. She was twirling an Israeli flag in between her forefinger and thumb; the same flag that Tony refused to take off the desk and the same flag that Eli David had given to his daughter a couple of years ago.

Tony forced himself to walk again. He went and sat at his desk and decided to get to work without saying anything about this, since the others were apparently not talking to this girl for some strange reason.

A phone rang. Nobody moved. Tony looked up just in time to see the girl across from him reach for her phone. Her face lit up in a too familiar way as she read whoever was calling her. She stood up from the desk and walked over to the window. She answered the phone.

"Shalom, achut," the girl said quietly.

Tony's face grew hard as he realized what she said. He had secretly learned Hebrew, because he had wanted to become closer to Ziva and now he was hearing Hebrew spoken in the squad room again. He was staring at the girl as were his coworkers. They merely recognized the language, but Tony recognized the word and what it meant.

"Yes, I am here already," the girl said in a voice that was laced with an Israeli accent, that again, sounded far too familiar to Tony. It was stronger than that of the last Israeli accent he had heard, but it was still very similar. Her voice, also was similar to the last Israeli that had stood in that squad room.

He couldn't hear what was being said on the other end of the phone, but he knew that whoever was speaking to her was saying a lot. He was growing curious about something for the first time in a while. For some reason, this girl peaked his interest in someway and perhaps it was because she was Israeli and speaking in Hebrew. Maybe it was because she looked nearly identical to Ziva. But, it could also be that she was talking to her sister on the phone while she spoke in Hebrew, was Israeli, and looked nearly identical to Ziva.

"Yes, I think now is the time. The last one just arrived. I believe I can identify which ones are which. This means I will know how each will react," the girl said into the phone. "I will talk to them. How are you doing?"

There was a short span of silence in which the team stared at the girl's back.

"I see," the girl said. "I told you, you should have come with me. I have been evading them for many years. Were they looking for me?"

There was another silence, which was longer this time with the explanation of whatever the answer to the girl's simple yes or no question was.

"If he comes around, do not trust him," the girl said quietly. "Do not tell him where I have gone and do not tell him that you have seen me. He is to know nothing. They do not deserve to know if I am alive or dead. I thought I had gotten them off my back when I chose my citizenship five years ago, already knowing what I wanted. I guess I was the lucky one, being born in America and all. I will call when they have been informed and update you. Shalom, achut."

There was a short moment and then the girl hung up the phone and stared out the window for another second before turning around to find four NCIS Agents standing at their desks and staring at her. She smiled at them and Tony could see a small dimple on her left cheek that Ziva didn't have. Maybe they weren't sisters at all, but maybe that one defining feature was what distinguished their differences in the end.

"Erev Tov, chaverim," the girl said and walked over, sitting down on Ziva's desk again.

"Good morning to you too," Tony said quietly. "Who are you and what do you want?"

"DiNozzo, be nice to our guest," Gibbs said quietly. "She has yet to answer me on those questions."

"I can answer you now, Special Agent Gibbs," the girl said. "Now that I have talked to her, which was the phone call I told you I was waiting for."

"How do you know my name?" Gibbs asked.

"I know who all of you are, because she told me about you and showed me your pictures," the girl said quietly. "I know that you are Special Agent Leroy Jethro Gibbs and you are what she called a functional mute, though I did not know at first what she meant by that… she did explain. That is Special Agent Timothy McGee and he is excellent with computers and likes to play games on them as well and has many nicknames… the one she found funny was Elf Lord and she also explained that to me. And you are Special Agent Anthony DiNozzo. She went into great detail about you, but I shall not say those details now. There is also an Abigail Sciuto who works with the forensics and a Donald Mallard, or Ducky, who is the person that cuts open the dead corpses."

"Dead bodies," Tony corrected and the girl laughed.

* * *

A/N - **achut** means sister; **shalom**is a greeting; **erev tov** is good morning; **chaverim** is friends.


	2. Who Are You?

"Why are you laughing?" DiNozzo asked.

"She told me that you would fix my English, that is all. I find this funny," the girl responded. "Nobody has dared to correct my English where I worked before. They were afraid of me, with my background. I am Special Agent Ariela Aliyah David. I go by Aria."

"David?" Tony asked.

"I was told that you would question me to no end. I want to warn you now, it is to no use," Aria said quietly. "I will not talk unless I learn to trust you myself. Ziva has told me that I can trust you, but I must see so for myself."

Aria's face was dangerous and Tony remembered that look too well. He was remembering a lot from his early days of knowing Ziva and this girl had to be her sister.

"You called her just now?" he asked.

She smiled and nodded her head. "She does have a comment to make to you, Tony," Aria said. "She is simply surprised that you have not broken down and called her yet. I feel as though she may have been disappointed but also proud. Disappointed because she expected you to break your word to her on that and proud because that means you are coping better than she expected."

"Should I call her?"

"Listen to your heart is all I can tell you on that subject," Aria said quietly. "That is all that there is to tell. As for now, I must tell you that there is danger for Ziva in Israel. Danger that she knows nothing of. She is in danger where she is and I tried to warn her without telling her that. I tried to tell her that it was better if she returned home to Washington, where she had a family that loved her. She did not listen to me; but why should she? I am her younger sister and should not need to look out for her as well. She feels horribly for getting me involved in all this, but it is ongoing and that is what you do not know and what she does not know. The danger to me is only an extension of what the danger was to all of you several weeks and months ago."

"What are you talking about, Aria? And what agency do you work for?"

"NCIS," Aria responded. "I have been working with the Los Angeles team for a couple of years. I should probably call them regarding my absence."

"Probably," Gibbs said. "Come with me to MTAC. We'll talk to them together."

"That will be fine," she said with a nod and slid off Ziva's desk again.

Before she left the squad room with Gibbs she handed a thick envelope to Tony and nodded to him. She knew that it was a letter but hadn't read what it said. Tony nodded appreciatively and watched her disappear before turning his eyes toward the envelope. It only had his name written on the back in Ziva's clear handwriting.

"Why are we trusting this girl?" Bishop asked. "She comes from nowhere and anyone with that strong of an Israeli accent can't be trusted. I don't think I like her."

"We don't have a choice if the boss is choosing to trust her, Bishop," McGee said. "What's that say, Tony?"

Tony was focused on the letter that he had just unfolded and opened. There were tears in his eyes before he ever began reading, but as he read they only grew thicker, until they spilled onto his cheeks. McGee had never seen Tony quite like that before and he realized that the letter must be from Ziva and that there was definitely something that he hadn't shared about his time in Israel with Ziva for those tears to still be present in his system so two months later.

McGee watched as Tony's eyes raced back and forth across the page, slowly moving down toward the bottom of it and flipping to the next page. Then, when he finished he flipped to the first page again and continued to read what was written for a second time.

Both McGee and Bishop sat watching Tony. McGee was watching him carefully, waiting for him to crack and walk away, or pick up the phone and call her or say something, anything would have been nice. Bishop, on the other hand, who had only heard about Ziva David, her predecessor and the owner of the chair that she was supposed to be sitting in, was watching him as though he were nuts for accepting anything from this girl that they didn't know and claimed to be a Special Agent of NCIS. She was suspicious of the girl and she was suspicious of her predecessor, Ziva David. She didn't think that either of these women were good news.

Bishop turned her eyes to her computer before Tony spoke. She began to look up everything she could on Ziva David and Ariela David. She also looked up everything she could on Eli David. She wanted to know what they were involved in and she wanted to know what the girl could possibly be doing in Washington, DC if she worked in the Los Angeles office and what she had been doing in Israel before that. She wondered why Gibbs would trust her blindly when Gibbs still didn't trust Bishop after two weeks of working with the team. It wasn't right or fair.

Tony began reading the letter for a third time, forgetting that he was at NCIS and that he had at least one coworker watching him as tears poured down his cheeks while he read the letter in his hands. He wanted very much to read this letter over and over until he had it memorized, but he would be brought back to reality by the end of reading the letter this time around. He felt as though his heart had stopped beating upon seeing her words written on the page and knew that they were meant sincerely.

* * *

A/N - I hope you are enjoying this. Please let me know.


	3. Letter

_My Dearest Tony,_

_I am sorry for not contacting you; I did not know what to say to you. I have chosen to write it down and send it to you with my sister, who insisted on going to Washington, DC for a reason she would not tell me. It took me a long while to think of everything that I needed to say to you, but I have finally done so and held up my sister in the process of thinking. She would have been there nearly a week earlier if it had not been for me and I sincerely hope that I have not put her in danger by delaying this._

_First, I do apologize for not keeping in contact with you. I should have even if I did not know what to say. I would have found words had I called you, or had you called me. I understand that you have not contacted me simply because I asked you not to contact me. I have spent a long time sitting near my phone and computer, simply hoping that you would give in and contact me in some small way, but you probably do not know what to say to me either. I am proud of you for sticking to your word, Tony; more proud that I know how to express in words._

_Second, I apologize for not telling you that I had a living sister. I did not know what became of her. We went our separate ways nine years ago when I first arrived in America and I have not seen her since I was in Somalia, she was also being held hostage there. I should have said something then, but I had neither the strength nor the courage to say anything, and she had already managed to escape, which was why they were keeping a close eye on me (she had been there longer than me and found the will to escape)._

_Thirdly, I apologize for making the decision I have made. I did have my reasons and I know that you understand those reasons. But, Tony, I think I have made a mistake. I thought that I had to do this alone and I thought that I had to do this for Gibbs. But, I was wrong on both cases. I had to do this for you and I should never have chosen to do it alone or away from home. I could have simply resigned my position and been happy where I was in Washington. I can see that now._

_Your one-eighty was not only hard for you. I did not expect to tell you then how I felt about you, even though I did not use the full words of it. I do love you Tony and I do not know how to cope with that or how to get through that. I did not expect you to kiss me, either. It made it difficult for me. I do not know what to tell you now, other than I want to come home, but do not currently have the means to come home._

_I have heard some rumors while I am here. Parsons investigation opened up some doors that cannot be so easily shut. I know that I promised you I would remain safe, but I do not think that I am keeping that promise right now. I think that I am in danger. Aria knows more than I do about that, but she is a difficult bolt to crack (or maybe the term is nut). She will not speak to me about what is going on, but I could see the fear behind her eyes, as often times you would see things behind my eyes._

_I need to ask you a favor, even though I do not have the right to ask. I need to ask you to keep her safe and to trust her the way that you trusted me. She is the best woman that I know, no matter how young. She is strong, but there are many things bottled up inside her that I cannot get at. I hope that you can do this for me. I hope that you can feel free to contact me now. And, I forgot to add something to my list and I will tell you what it is, because it is driving me up the hall. I will come home to you, Tony. I will because I have to and I cannot live without you, either._

_There are a few things that you need to know about Aria. She works at NCIS in the Los Angeles office and she left there suddenly, because Parsons found out about her and began questioning her also, thinking that she had something to do with my father's death, based on what he knew about what my father had done to my little sister. She needs to inform them of why she has been absent. She left at the beginning of the summer, right after our resignation, because she was fearful of something, though she would not share what that was._

_She also has nightmares, I learned recently. Her time in Somalia is not the greatest concern, I do not think. There was a time when Ari was grooming her to become a member of Hamas while my father was grooming her to become a member of Mossad. She was a member of Mossad from a very early age, which is against the rules of Israel, but she was good at her job and my father could not see past the job. She has a rough past, possibly more rough than my own. She will need emotional support from you and Gibbs. If there is a way that you can tell this to Gibbs without showing him this letter, then please do so. But, if you need to show him this letter, then that is what you need to do. I would prefer that he does not know all of the personal details of what happened in Israel._

_I want to thank you for coming to Israel in the first place, because I never got around to doing that. I want to thank you for coming to me and pulling me up from the dark place I had entered. Your presence made my healing possible and your presence also assured me that you could be trusted and loved the way that I have always trusted and loved you, Tony. They made me remember that there is still good in this world and that I had to find a happy place so that I could come home to you one day. The night we shared before your leaving made it more difficult and the whispered words you said while you thought I was sleeping were heard and they have sunk in. I need to return my feelings to you now, even though I think you know exactly what they are._

_I love you with all of my heart and soul, Anthony Daniel DiNozzo. I hope that I am not too late in saying those words. I hope that it is not too late to ask you to wait a little while longer for me to come home. I hope that Aria can give you what you need to solve whatever is going on here and possibly there, too. I hope that you can find your way to me one more time. This time, I am asking you to travel halfway around the world to save me; only, I do not know the dangers that are present. Trust Aria._

_Love,_

_Ziva_


	4. New Girl and Old Friends

"Tony?" McGee asked, walking over to him and trying to peer at the letter in his hands.

Tony yanked the letter from his sight and folded it quickly and shoved it unceremoniously back inside its envelope. He looked at McGee and turned quickly away from him, to hide the tears that were falling down his face. He turned to his desk and picked up his phone. He dialed the numbers as he walked up the stairs and toward the conference room with it.

McGee turned back to Bishop. "That's strange," he said with a soft shrug. "He doesn't normally act like that. What are you looking up?"

"The new girl," Bishop said. "I'm sorry, but I don't trust Israelis."

McGee shook his head and headed toward the elevator to go inform Abby of what was going on, since Bishop was not the best company and neither him nor Tony really liked her yet, though they hoped she would grow on them, because it would make work difficult if she didn't.

* * *

"Ah, hello, Hetty," Gibbs said quietly. "I found someone that belongs to you. More like she found us, though."

"Special Agent David," Hetty said quietly. "I hope you are well. I have managed to cover your absence until last week when Director Vance paid us a visit. What was it all about?"

"Family matters, Hetty," Aria said quietly. "I had to go and I cannot tell you the reason at the moment. But, Vance knows them already. I have stopped and talked to him before talking to the team here in Washington. I will need to remain here for some time. I am sorry Hetty for not talking to you about this sooner."

"Me too," Hetty said. "I thought you could trust me?"

"You know me, Hetty. I act before I speak," Aria said.

"Just like your father," Hetty remarked.

"Please, do not say that. I do not want to be compared to him. It was for my sister. I apologize if it has upset you. Really, I do."

"You had a phone call yesterday. The boy said his name was Jeffrey and you would know how to reach him. He told me that you have been gone longer than he expected you to be," Hetty said quietly.

Aria looked away from the screen for a moment and glanced at Gibbs and then back to Hetty. "Thank you for the message. I shall call him."

"Good. Take care of her, Jethro. She's important and highly skilled at her job. I hope she is an asset to you while she's there. I know we miss her here," Hetty said.

"I'm sure she'll be an asset," Gibbs said with a smirk. "Thanks for your time, Hetty."

The screen went blank and Gibbs turned to Aria. They were sitting in the chairs. "I need to know everything, Aria. I need to know everything that you know about whatever threat is facing Ziva. Start talking."

"Can I make my phone call first?" Aria asked nervously. "I have not called him and he will be worried. If I can reach him at all."

"Go ahead," Gibbs said quietly and watched the girl pull out her phone and dial a number into it and put the phone to her ear.

* * *

The phone rang three times in Tony's ear. He looked at the clock. If Ziva was still in Israel it was nine at night there. He hoped she would answer the phone. Suddenly, the ringing stopped, but it was not a voice message that caught him. It was a gasp of breath and no words. He knew that she really had no idea what to say, especially after pouring her heart out in a letter that was sent with her sister that she had spent nine years not telling any of them about.

"Hello, Ziva," Tony said, and his voice cracked with emotion as he spoke to her.

"Hello, Tony," Ziva responded, her voice just as thick with emotions.

"I miss you," he said quietly. "I got your letter. I will trust her. I trust you. I love you. I will come for you."

There was the soft sound of a sob coming through the phone and a moment of silence in which Tony simply waited for her to say something. He stared out the window as he waited for her to speak, watching the cars pass by below.

"I love you too," Ziva said. "Thank you."

"Always, ahava," Tony said quietly, "always."

His voice was only barely over a whisper and he knew that he had only spoken Hebrew to her once and she had no idea the extent of his Hebrew, especially since he had gotten more into it after leaving Israel, because it gave him something to hold onto. He reached in his pocket and toyed with the necklace that was sitting there. The tears were thick in his eyes once more as he remembered the silent argument that their eyes had as she had placed it inside his coat pocket before they went to the airport.

"Ahava," Ziva whispered back to him, half surprised that he had used a Hebrew word and half pleased at what word he had chosen. "I will be waiting, right here."

* * *

A/N - Ahava means love in Hebrew.


End file.
